Photographs of the Bridges
ABOUT BRIDGES OF WASHINGTON, D.C.
The History of Our Nation's Capital, as Reflected in Its Bridges
The history of D.C. is also the history of its bridges. In the late 1700s, the first bridges, now completely gone, connected the new Federal City to the outside world. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, more and bigger crossings arose to support industry, allow the expansion of suburbs, commemorate cultural and civic leaders, and enhance the aesthetics of the District’s waterfronts and parks. Although the city abandoned civic-minded, commemorative, and monumental constructions for utilitarian highway monoliths in the mid-twentieth century, a recent renaissance has seen a welcome shift to walkability and beauty instead of brute utility. Using the city’s bridges as an index of the times, author and D.C. native Bob Dover tracks the growth, decay, and rebirth of the District from the 1750s to today.
ABOUT BRIDGESPOTTING
Dedicated to the Exploration of Bridges on Foot
Based on detailed research, interviews, and hikes across more than 650 walkable bridges, Bridgespotting: A Guide to Bridges that Connect People, Places, and Times and Bridgespotting Part 2: A Guide to Even More Bridges that Connect People, Places, and Times, tell the stories about the bridges in our communities. The books examine how the roles of bridges have evolved over the centuries, from serving as trade route crossings that formed the seeds for the growth of settlements, to becoming the centers of government and commerce, to the mega-suspension bridges of the mid-twentieth century, and now to the small, pedestrian sculptural bridges in parks and re-developed urban areas. Tourist bridges span the range from small, abandoned structures that have been preserved in a county park to large, world-famous bridges with sidewalks, viewing platforms, visitor centers, decorations, tour guides, and a gift shop to accommodate their enormous numbers of visitors. People visit bridges to pursue an interest in history or architecture, to obtain the best available view of the landscape or riverfront, to use its sidewalk as a hiking and biking trail, or just because the bridge is a famous landmark.
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The books identify more than 50 different reasons that people visit bridges as tourists, for recreation, or in the pursuit of a hobby. By providing more than 450 specific examples, including detailed descriptions of more than 130 of the most prominent tourist bridges and multi-bridge tours in the United States, Canada, and Europe, the Bridgespotting books serve as a travel guide for those interested in exploring the history and cultural development of their next vacation destination, or of the local bridge that they drive over every day. Also, through the identification and cataloguing of the features that make bridges important to the community and attractive to visitors, the Bridgespotting books provide dozens of ideas to be considered by communities that are planning new bridges, or pondering what to do with their old, obsolete bridges.
